1946 MG TC Midget

Welcome to Art Form Auto! Our first featured vehicle is this 1946 MG TC Midget. These lovely British Roadsters essentially represented the introduction of the European Sports Car to the United States. The MG Motor Company produced exactly 10,000 TC’s from late 1945 to late 1949 – a truly huge number for a ‘specialty’ car that was mostly pre-war technology. MG took notice of the popularity of these cars with the American G.I.’s serving in Europe during WWII and decided to import the TC models anywhere they would sell, including sending a good portion of them to the States. It’s also believed that soldiers were actually bringing them back to the States themselves after the war was over.

The TC was based on the TB model that was introduced in 1936, replacing the PB model, one of MG Motor Company’s first cars ever produced. Even though the TC Midget was old pre-war technology, it possessed a fun to drive factor second to none in those days. The contrast of the type of car the U.S.was producing at the time to these sporty roadsters is amazing – such a completely different machine all together! The specs on the TC sound downright hilarious compared to modern cars. The engine is a 1250cc overhead valve pushrod unit that mustered up about 54hp, good for a blistering 23-second 0-60 time on it’s way to a top speed of about 85mph – if you were brave enough to hold the throttle down long enough, and trust the spoke wheels and tires that were only slightly larger than the ones found on a bicycle.

Like most of the classic European sports cars, it really wasn’t about the power and handling but more about the entire ope
n air ‘motoring’ experience. If you did want to extract a bit more power, there were many ways to tune and modify the motor, including supercharging, which is something the factory did offer on a few TC’s.

The example pictured here was lovingly restored by a hobbyist over the course of several years. It is truly a beautiful and pure design. The exterior wears a well applied coat of Red paint with a fabulous finish that looks ‘factory correct’ without too much shine, the color is believed to be original. The Tan vinyl interior offers an ideal contrast and is in fantastic con
dition thoughout. The Tan top and side curtains are in better than good shape with no tears or holes and it barely keeps you dry, which is to say it meets original factory specifications. The wood on the dashboard is striking, it has just been re-done and the black carpet set is new.

This one presents very well and drives great. It would be a great example to both drive and be proud of showing at the local car show or club event. Oddly enough, there is no real rust to be found anywhere. The early VIN# on this car indicates it’s the 1,515 TC built. It also tells an interesting story, the “CKD” suffix on the VIN plate (Completely Knocked Down) denotes that this is one of the 60 or so cars that were sent in boxes full of parts to a MG shop in Dublin, Ireland right after World War II, to be assembled since the MG factory was in the process of switching back over to the production of sports cars, not military vehicles for the British Army. Another unique feature is the British spec Army Green paint under the bonnet. They were obviously trying to use the rest of the military paint leftover from producing vehicles for the war effort. As you can see from the pictures, the car is right-hand drive, as all the TC models were.